Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Arab Abbot complains against JP

Sharing for study purposes:

An Arab Abbot
complains against the current ruling Jerusalem Patriarchate:-The See of
Jerusalem , Submissiveness that Kills-

Taken from Monomackhos blog: http://www.monomackhos.com/category/a-michalopulos-blog/ “They cannot ask us to be their followers merely because they have inherited apostolic succession. We must follow the good and distance ourselves from evil successors of the apostles.” – St Irenaeus of LyonThe See of JerusalemSubmissiveness that Kills“Do
you love me, Peter? Feed my lambs…” The Lord said this to Peter three
times. The idea is that Peter is disavowing his denial of the Lord three
times though his love for Him. That is, through feeding His sheep. He
wept bitterly, with regret and repentance, and God accepts those who
repent. But not feeding His lambs is a denial of Him and ungratefulness
towards Him that fall under woe. Woe to anyone who causes one of these
little ones to stumble! Woe to those who feed themselves but do not feed
the sheep!The lambs of the See of Jerusalem do not have anyone who
feeds them! Why? Because they are Arab! Any revival there to rise beyond
the level of spiritual impoverishment and ignorance is forbidden! They
are only allowed to move between misery and ignorance, between forced
spiritual illiteracy and rituals. This is more reassuring! They have no
share in anything more than a few crumbs! Forever treated with
suspicion! Neglected and marginalized! Accused of revolting against the
See of Jerusalem! Between the hammer of military occupation and the
anvil of ecclesiastical occupation, a process is underway to marginalize
them, to incapacitate them, to stifle their impetus, to enslave them in
their own church, to exclude them from every meaningful decision,
whether in their own land or elsewhere!One of the faithful from
Amman came to do a retreat with us. He relayed to us news of the latest
chapter in the tragedy of his oppressed church and Christ’s rejected
flock there. Some of the Arab clergy, out of zeal for the House of god,
are working for revival among the Arab Orthodox! This is something
natural! In northern Jordan, some renewal has appeared, and people are
rejoicing at the return of life of the Church! There is a monastery in
Dibbeen named after the Life-Giving Spring. It is about 12 kilometers to
the north of Amman. It is as though it was born via caesarian section–
prehaps because it is for women. The people are thirsting for the spring
of the Spirit, starving for the word of life. But as soon as there
appeared someone to give the Arab Orthodox streams of the water of
eternal life and to break for them the bread of heaven, the instrument
of the intruders who hold power over the See of Jerusalem acted in order
to put a stop to the risk of revival that was appearing on the
horizon, to cast out those who were bringing it about, and to extinguish
the flame of the Spirit there! Those responsible for what is regarded
as weaving a “suspicious conspiracy” for revival are being driven out
and are being replaced with those who will effectively ensure that the
Church will be as dessicated as possible among the Arab Orthodox and
that nothing will reach the point of revival. Demonstrations have
been held protesting the behavior of those in charge of the See of
Jerusalem in front of various church and civil establishments. But is
appears that no one wants to listen!What fault is it for the
Orthodox there that they are Arabs? Is it not the case that in Christ
there is neither Arab nor Greek, but rather Christ is all in all? It is
natural that there are Arabs, Greeks and Slavs in the Church. A person
cannot step out of his own skin. We praise God, each in his own
language, land and culture, just those upon whom the Holy Spirit
descended did in the Book of Acts. However, for the Church to become a
vehicle and a support for nationalism and racism, this is unbelief! This
is regressing back to the paganism of the ancient gentiles! Render unto
Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s! If Christ is not the
one who brings us together, then nothing brings us together! If we are
not prepared to drive every thought toward obeying Christ, then we have
no part in Him! At that point, we set up idols next to Him in our faith!
At that point, we have come to resemble the words of the One who said,
“These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”
At that point, we kill Christ in ourselves and in others, while
claiming that we are offering worship to God! Unfortunately, those
who watch over the See of Jerusalem watch more over dust and stones– and
themselves– while the people are something closer to slaves to them!
They hide behind canons while violating their spirit! They trade in
power and money! In what way are they any different from the high
priests of Israel who conspired against the Lord and gave Him over to
the gentiles to be killed?! Are the lambs of Jerusalem not being given
over to be slaughtered with negligence? They aggrandize themselves with
their robes, their crosiers their titles and their grandiloquent
speeches, while the flock is forced to lap at their feet! They traffick
in Christ and His sheep, without any feeling for faith or belief!
Perhaps some of them submit to the status quo there, feeling pain for
the situation of Arab Orthodox, but they do not lift a finger! The issue
is not in their hands. This is what the patriarch and his crowd wants!
Do not these words of the Lord apply to them, “My house is called a
house of prayer and you have made it into a den of thieves”?!No, we
are not supporting the Arab Orthodox in Jerusalem because they are Arab.
Nor are we supporting them because we want to Arabize authority and the
Holy Places there! The Lord did not die for the sake of soil and stone
but for flesh and blood! They are first and foremost our brothers in
faith! “You are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells within
you”! Our protest is not over authority that has been robbed from us or
over Arab culture that is insulted. It is not over political
confiscation, even if we reject injustice! Our protest is churchly: it
is over the disregard, indeed the abandonment of care for Christ sheep,
the abandonment of preaching the Gospel of Salvation! “Feed my lambs,”
no matter what the flock’s cultural identity might be! The
insensitivity and indifference in the Orthodox world toward what is
going on in the See of Jerusalem staggering. No one is taking action to
motivate those who are indifferent. It is as though this were something
that does not concern us! The simplest of our Holy Fathers’ teachings is
that right belief, wherever it may be, concerns us and concerns us
directly! A bishop, for example, is a bishop of of the One Holy Catholic
and Apostolic Church in every place, not only in that part that he is
bishop over! Naturally, no one should intervene in the manner in which a
bishop conducts the affairs of his diocese, so long as those affairs
are governed according to right belief and the canons of the Church.
However, as soon as a bishop strays from the Orthodox faith and the
canons of the Church, every Orthodox bishop in every place should not
only be concerned with the infraction in order to correct it, but it is
demanded to do this– and here I stress the word “demanded.”Treating
issues in terms of what is regarded as “church politics”, as though they
are separate from virtue and excellence, is unbelief and treachery! The
sees considered to be “Greek” turn a blind eye to the spiritual
massacre that is occurring in the See of Jerusalem in order to close
ranks amongst themselves, as though they were a worldly political party!
They themselves individually know that what is going on in the See of
Jerusalem is unacceptable and they will say this in their closed
meetings, but they will not admit it openly! In practice, they prefer
the bond of their racism to the bond of Christ’s Church! What kind of
behavior is this? Is it not hypocrisy? Are we entrusted with our
nationalism and our racism or are we entrusted with Christ’s Church?!
The state of insensitivity to this issue is horrible and terrifying! And
this is not limited to the Greek sphere. Unfortunately, it goes beyond
that to every sphere: Slavic, Antiochian and others! How many of
Christ’s churches in every place are oppressed on account of the
nationalism, racism, politics, tribalism, of groups and leaders within
the Church! They are not so much concerned with pastoring the Church as
they are with who extends his authority, in the name of Orthodoxy (!),
over what and over whom and who makes material and symbolic gains by
wielding authority over the Church in this place or that!The worst
examples of exploiting the Church, the pastoral care of the faithful and
the preaching of the Gospel in this context is the situation in the
diaspora– and not only the dioceses in North America! We have discarded
all ecclesiology so that the so-called “Mother Churches” can keep their
hands on the Church there! We use sin as an excuse and we don’t even
care! They say that they are waiting for the future Orthodox ecumenical
council? This will not be able to bring about a solution because it is
in an atmosphere of asking who will take control over what, at the
expense of the believers. Everyone, unfortunately, treats the diaspora
like their milk-cow! Our last concern is the Church! Our concern is with
what belongs to us!For this reason, no good can be hoped to come
from any solution, in the foreseeable future, that comes from outside
those who are suffering! Our visitor asked me, “What is it possible for
us, the Arab Orthodox flock in the See of Jerusalem, to do?” I told him:
If you are waiting for a solution to come to you from the outside, then
you are mistaken, because nothing is going to come! Those among you who
are zealous for Christ in love, righteousness and humility should take
their fate and the fate of their church into their own hands! Demand, as
you have demanded! Warn, as you have warned! Then, finally, if those in
charge of the See of Jerusalem do not pay attention to your demands
after one, two, three times, then let them be for you like the pagan and
the publican! They are the ones who are fallen and you are the ones who
are demanding justice, if you know that you are keeping yourselves
loyal to the Lord God! If they insist on their blindness, let them hang
in the pit of their sins, but as for yourselves, make the light of
Christ your point of reference and walk towards Him! If they hold on to
their endowments, leave them and leave the endowments to them! Your
Christ is enough endowment for you, His Spirit enough inheritance and
His love enough soil!The same should be said for all the churches
that or oppressed or in the diaspora. Those who take up Christ are in
the right, while unfortunately no one in this evil time gives them what
belongs to Christ in them or is zealous for them in the Spirit. The
Church, whether in Antioch, Russia, the Balkans or any other place has
never received what is hers except forcibly. They have never been
recognized or accepted as sister churches except after a separation.
This is the sickness of authority! The churches of Jerusalem,
Alexandria and the diaspora in general– not to speak of others– must
know and behave according to what it helpful in Christ! Anyone who
supports you also does good for himself. Resist anyone who resists you
and tries to bind you to flimsy pillars belonging to this world, and pay
him no heed. In truth, however, he might return to his senses because
God is with you and the Spirit of the Lord is supporting you! We were
not born in Christ in order to be servile, nor for any worldly gain! You
know the truth, and the truth will set you free! “I am your
inheritance,” says the Lord.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I, Joanna Higginbotham, administrator and comment moderator of this blog, do solemnly swear that Anonymous comments will not be published. Include your jurisdiction, rank/status (priest, layman, monk, catechumen, etc.). Use the NAME/URL option to enter a name or pseudonym. Reader Daniel will not see your unpublished comment, so if you have a message for him, contact him directly: oregdan@hotmail.com

Machine Translated

READER DANIEL 2017

READER DANIEL 1989

QUOTE

What separates us from the love of friends is envying or being envied, causing or receiving harm, insulting or being insulted, and suspicious thoughts. Would that you had never done or experienced anything of this sort and in this way separated yourself from the love of a friend.

Philokalia Vol. II, #21

QUOTE

'A faithful friend is beyond price' (Ecclus. 6:15), since he regards his friend's misfortunes as his own and suffers with him, sharing his trials until death.

Philokalia Vol. II, #93

OLD RUSSIAN SAYING

"If we have a good priest (or bishop), we give thanks to God. If a bad one, we endure him".